


It's Just You, Me, and a Pile of Corpses

by DepravedAndUnstable



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Dark, Dependency, Happy Halloween, Harry is not okay, Horror, M/M, Manipulation, No Happy Ending Fest, Obsessive Behavior, Possessive Behavior, Post-Apocalypse, Tom is Crazy, Twisted, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:13:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26965738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DepravedAndUnstable/pseuds/DepravedAndUnstable
Summary: Tom Riddle was the perfect person to spend a zombie apocalypse with.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Comments: 17
Kudos: 128





	It's Just You, Me, and a Pile of Corpses

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween!!! 
> 
> This story is inspired by this manga - https://mangadex.org/title/22847/uruwashiki-shuuen  
> and bourbon. Lots of bourbon.
> 
> It shouldn't be long, and my goal is to have it completed by the end of ~~October~~ December.

_Hush, hush the world is quit,_

_Hush, hush we both can’t fight it,_

_It’s us that made this mess,_

_Why can’t you understand?_

_-_ Animals by Neon Trees ([this cover is best to set the mood](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaWJxe2Ya6M))

_\---_

The gas station _smelled_ like rotters, so they were both on edge.

They moved silently through the aisles, neither acknowledging the headless corpse slumped over a magazine rack.

Tom kept his baseball bat raised, eyes darting and ears straining. Harry stayed close behind him, quickly filling his satchel with everything within reach. Most of the supplies had already been picked through, but the little shop wasn’t completely cleared out. There were still a few stale bags of chips, candy bars, and canned goods left. Once the shelves were empty, Tom led them over to the coolers where Harry grabbed the last bottled water and filled up the rest of his satchel with Gatorade.

“Done.” Harry breathed and snapped the bag shut.

They didn’t leave though. Tom was eyeing a door behind the cashiers counter and began inching towards it. Harry’s instincts were screaming flight, but he ignored them and followed Tom’s lead.

They were a yard away from the counter when he heard it. A soft scrapping coming from the other side of the door. Goosebumps broke out over his body and Harry froze, imagining the gnarled fingernails of a rotter digging through the wood, its bloody teeth gnashing and eyes devoid of everything but an all-consuming hunger. His hands flexed, empty and hardly a defense if they were to be attacked.

Tom nimbly climbed over the counter without a sound and gripped the doors handle. He looked back at Harry and waited for him to nod before turning the handle and wrenching the door open.

There was a loud crash and a shriek, then a flurry of movement so fast Harry's eyes could scarcely follow it. A dark shape flew at Tom and the younger boy swung his bat, but the shape dodged and darted around him. It shrieked again and flew at Harry. He flung his arms up to protect his face, waiting for the pain, for the teeth to rip into his flesh.

But it didn’t come.

Only the kiss of something soft brushed his hands and a burst of air ruffled his hair.

Startled, he looked up and saw the shape fly through a shattered skylight. Its powerful wings pulling it up and away and towards safety.

Tom chuckled. “It was just an owl.”

Harry watched it shrink smaller into distance.

He watched until it was only a grey speck in the sky and Tom’s insistent grip on his wrist forced him away. He let himself be led out of the little gas station and back into the horror that was the world now.

\---

_Harry was lucky._

_Very lucky. And he_ knew _that. But sometimes he didn’t_ feel _that._

_Tom Riddle was the perfect person to spend a zombie apocalypse with. He was always calm and calculating, never letting fear or desperation influence their decisions. He was clever and observant, often noting signs of danger before Harry. He was also strong and fearless and surprisingly comfortable with blowing zombie brains out._

_Harry himself still had to smother down nausea when he saw the pink, gooey bits flying through the air._

_He was lucky Tom bothered with him. Stayed with him, kept him safe and fed. Tom had saved his life so many times they’d stopped keeping count._

_Harry knew he was lucky._

_But sometimes he couldn’t stop himself from wishing Ron and Hermione were with him instead. Or Sirius. Or the Weasley twins. Or one of his mates from the football team. Or anyone, really, that he’d actually been friends with from Before. He missed them._

_He hoped they were all okay..._

_They were probably dead._

\---

“I should have a weapon, too.”

They were back at their base, and the sun had long since set. The room was small and cramped, on the second floor of the town’s public library.

It had once been an office, for a woman named Rose Stygian – her name was on a plaque by the door. But they’d pushed all her furniture and pilled all her possessions into a heap at the end of the hall. They’d then filled the space with their own meager supplies and dragged in a single goose feather mattress from the Inn next door.

Tom called it their home, but Harry- he just- he couldn’t.

Tom had chosen the building for several reasons. Primarily because of the river that ran along the back of the building, giving them easy access to water. But also because it had been almost immediately abandoned and was untouched by the looting and chaos of the First Days.

He never said it, but Harry suspected he also liked having so many books readily available.

Tom had wanted a room on the second floor, so they could rig all the entrances on the first with sound traps. They’d strung up fishing string at every door, every window, and tied it with beer bottles and empty cans. If anyone entered the building – human or rotter – they’d hear it and would have time to prepare themselves.

He’d allowed Harry to pick any room on the second floor for them to make their own.

Harry had picked Rose Stygian’s office because hers was the only room with windows on two walls, instead of one. He liked how bright it became at midday.

“We’ve talked about this before, Harry. It’s best that you have two free hands.” They were sprawled out on their mattress, curled into one another for warmth. The season was changing from fall to winter and there was a foreboding chill in the air that clothing alone could not combat. “I’ll protect us, and you’ll grab the supplies.”

“But today I was useless. I mean, if it had really been a rotter, and not just a bird, it would’ve gotten me.” Harry shivered.

“But it wasn’t a rotter. A rotter would have been slow enough for me to hit.” Tom nuzzled into the older boy’s dark locks, his hands rubbing reassuringly at the others back. “I won’t let one near you. Not again.” Harry closed his eyes and let Toms touches calm him, let the others confident words wash over him. “It’s best that you have both hands free to grab as many supplies as quickly as possible. We might need to run at any time with what we have.”

“But I could still have both hands free. I could get a knife and tuck it into my belt, so that it’s there if I need it but I can still move quickly.”

Tom hummed as if considering, his fingers playing with Harry’s unruly locks. “But you wouldn’t move quickly. You would freeze. Just like you froze today, like you always do.”

Harry had no response to that. It was true, had been ever since that first day – when Tom had first found him.

“But I- I should still have something, just in case, in case you-”

“Shhhh.” Tom clasped Harry’s neck, fingers tickling the pressure points that never failed to make the older boy’s entire body shudder and go limp. “I’ll never leave you alone, Harry. I’ll always be there to protect you, so you don’t need to worry. You’re safe with me.”

Tom kneaded the tense muscles under his hands and Harry bit back a moan. Tom’s clever fingers dug into every tight knot, expertly working them until they were exquisitely loose and pliant.

Harry let his heavy eyelids fall shut.

He was safe with Tom. Everything had gone insane, the world was full of pain and gore but Tom had been with him through it all and shielded him from the worst of it. He could only nod in agreement, nestling in closer to the younger boy’s chest. He knew it was wrong to let someone else take on the burden of his own survival, but Tom had always been steadfast that Harry let him take charge of everything. And it was so simple when Tom took charge, when what he said was resolute and Harry could just close his eyes and follow.

He let the soothing touches pull him under, too tired to put up a fight. He breathed in Toms coppery scent, basked in his gentle touches and fell into the bliss of unconsciousness.


End file.
